Wonder Woman #43 – James Robinson, Writer; Marco Santucci, Artist; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 4/10
Corrina: Another lousy issue
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
Ray: Wonder Woman #43 is another issue of Robinson’s run that not only completely lacks a compelling plotline, but shows a complete lack of understanding of its main character, this issue kicks off the big battle with Darkseid’s forces. The issue starts with a prolonged segment involving Steve and Jason, as Steve trains Jason in the use of his new powers and calls him out for his lack of caution and general shadiness. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to agree with Steve here or find him overprotective of Diana, but he’s pretty bang-on about Jason – but the series still seems convinced that we want the character around. I’m not sure if he’s going to betray Diana again, but unless that’s the case, he’s still pretty bland and taking over Diana’s series. Unfortunately, what Diana’s up to this issue isn’t much better. She’s dealing with the captured Female Furies, Lashina and Mad Harriet, and this segment proves just how flawed this title’s take on her is.
Instead of using her lasso to get information out of the Furies and moving on, or appealing to their better nature, Diana’s approach for interrogating the villains is…to release them and challenge them to a fight, essentially boasting that she’s going to beat it out of them. Diana is a warrior, sure, but out of all the major DC characters, she really doesn’t enjoy fighting (a problem that repeats itself with another character in Robinson’s other book this week). As for Darkseid, he’s still doing his thing, killing minions and yelling in the Amazon, until he bullies his surviving minions into telling him he can proceed with his invasion of ARGUS. He leaps the gate, and another final showdown with Diana begins. This run has committed the unforgivable sin when it comes to Darkseid – he isn’t remotely intimidating or interesting. He’s a stock villain, and this run will look even worse by comparison when Darkseid takes a central role in Justice League Odyssey in a few months.
Corrina: So Jason and Steve Trevor talk, mostly so Steve can tell Jason what a jerk he is, which is fine, but, again, it’s all about Jason. :sigh:
Wonder Woman decides to fight the female furies instead of using her lasso to get the truth because she says she wants to punch things and….whatever. I give up.
Oh, and Darkseid is back and transports them all somewhere else for yet another pointless fight. I suspect the ending will be Jason sacrificing himself, thus proving he was a good guy all along.
I hate this run.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.